News, information and analysis from the black left.

Rep. Keith Ellison, the Personification of the Phony, Pro-War “Progressive”

Submitted by Glen Ford on Tue, 04/30/2013 - 23:40

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

Hard right Republican Senator John McCain and Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison both support no-fly zones over Syria. That's because, on U.S. imperial policy, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between between the pro-war Left and the Right.

Rep. Keith Ellison, the Personification of the Phony, Pro-War “Progressive”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“Ellison is part of the pro-war Left, whose primary mission is make self-described liberals and leftists comfortable supporting imperial wars.”

Keith Ellison, the Black U.S. House member from Minneapolis who is co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, says the U.S. should push for a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas in Syria. Ellison, who is also one of only two Muslim members of Congress, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, as did Republican Arizona Senator John McCain. It is a measure of how far to the right the Democratic Party has come under President Obama, that McCain, the war monger who likes to sing about bombing Iran, and Ellison, who claims to be a progressive, are in basic agreement over Syria. Both McCain and Ellison want no-fly zones, and both claim to prefer that there be no U.S. “boots on the ground” in country. Both are raving American imperialists who believe that the U.S. has not merely the right, but the obligation to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries. As Ellison, the phony progressive, puts it, “I don’t think the world’s greatest superpower, the United States, can stand by and do nothing” – which is, essentially, John McCain’s position.

Ellison has been advocating a no-fly zone for Syria for at least a year. Last May, he told U.S. News and World Report that so-called “safe zones” should be set up by the U.S. and its allies around the borders of Syria. Ellison made it quite clear that he sees such zones as a prelude to regime change. “I think the Libyan action was a good example of that,” he said.

“Both are raving American imperialists.”

On U.S. imperial policy, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between McCain, the hard-right Republican, and Ellison, who purports to be a progressive Democrat. Neither gives a damn about international law or the rights of smaller people’s to shape their own destinies. Ellison went to Saudi Arabia, the most socially backward rich country on the planet, and described the King as a “visionary leader.” He rejected George Bush’s troop “surge in 2007, by calling it “too little, too late.” Like Obama, he quibbles about whether U.S. wars are smart or dumb, too late or right on time, but never about the inherent right of the United States to wage war against the weaker nations of the world.

Ellison is part of the pro-war Left, which includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, whose primary mission is make self-described liberals and leftists comfortable supporting imperial wars. McCain can’t do that, but Ellison can. Amnesty International is shameless enough to use women’s rights as an excuse to support continued occupation of Afghanistan.

Much of the pro-war left has been forced by events to recognize that the U.S. and its allies are backing jihadist Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in Syria – people they wouldn’t like to have brunch with. Therefore, they now demand that the U.S. intervene to make sure that the jihadists don’t get their hands on chemical weapons. Thus, the pro-war left starts off by advocating U.S. intervention to facilitate the coming to power of the rebels, but in the end winds up demanding that the U.S. do whatever it can to stop these guys from taking power. Either way, it ends with U.S. intervention. John McCain and Keith Ellison pretend to be on opposite ideological ends, but they are like Jack and Jill walking up the same hill when it comes to the obligations and privileges of U.S. imperialism.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

7 Comments

Early on I heard from peace activist friends that Mr. Ellison would show up at very visible antiwar rallies along busy roads. He wanted the true peace people to think he was with them. But he was very careful to stay as out of sight as possible from passing vehicles. No sense alienating the American voter.

Ellison is but another example of why votiing on the federal level is a friggen waste of time, as I stated the other day!

I don't know how much more yall need to comprehend or ascertain to wrap our collective pea brains around that shiggity? Damn, yall still believe in the friggen Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny?

When a so-called Muslim takes a seat besides John McCain and advocates for the death of his fellow Muslims what more can you say... what more needs to be said? Is that the definition of a sellout or better yet, a useless rotten M****f***r???

I ran against Keith Ellison in the last corporate selection. This Irishman KNEW he was a sell out. However- the "anti-war" movement in Minnesota clamoured around Ellison and frigging shunned me and our campaign. I even got some great video of myself challenginng Keith Ellison to a debate. He refused each and every time. THAT should have told people something.

CNN reported yesterday- not only about the IDF's / IAF's raid in Syria, but also about a massacre of 400 Sunnis ['rebel activists say']. Of-course the same 'rebel activists say' / blame Assad's 'regime' as the culprit [CNN subtly noted that these reports are unconfirmed]. This is reminiscent of the Houla massacre a yr ago this month- where the lame-stream media blamed Assad's forces &/or affiliated 'thugs' for killing over 100 mainly women & children. Except it later came out that most of those killed were Assad supporters &/or Alawites, Shiites or even Sunnis who refused to back those Al-Qaeda type rebel 'FSA' & 'SNC'. In that case it turned out that those Al-Qaeda type rebels / so-called 'FSA' were the real culprits who then falsely accused Assad- which the western lame-stream media [= propaganda] outlets then hyped-up.

So Consider the Timing: the IAF makes a raid in Syria as the west hypes up reports that Assad [may have] used chemical weapons [or maybe not]- which O-bomber says is his trip-wire / red-line for an out-right US-NATO military assault on Libya- UHMM that's SYRIA - while being openly cheered on by this so-called 'liberal' Black & Muslim MN congressman- Keith Ellison.

I have no idea, how to convince people not to trust these news sources anymore. Every time I tell them the MSM lies to condition people for war, they say I'm crazy, and a 'conspiracy theorist'(I hate that term by the way, just another way to call someone a 'hater')

If Obama says we're at war with Syria(which he will since Israel just attacked one of Syria's facillities) I will find some way to get out and protest this war. When is enough, enough for U.S Imperialism?

Pages

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Our email list is up and working! Here's how to get Black Agenda Report in your email inbox every week!

Black Agenda Report is published weekly, every Tuesday or Wednesday. To receive a free email notice with links to the week's new content at Black Agenda Report click here...

Tried to create a new user and login at Black Agenda Report and failed?

It's not you, it's us. We're trying to curtail what used to be thousands of spam new users created daily, and have unintentionally shut the door to all new commenters. If you're one of those who've tried to create a login and comment on our stuff in the last month or so you would have found yourself blocked. We're stilll working on that, but we have no way to know you're a real human, not a spambot,

So please send us an email at publisher@blackagendareport.com. Make the subject "new user" or "unblock me" or something like that. We'll pull emails like that a couple times daily and lift the blocks.

Why you should comment on our articles here instead of Facebook

Facebook & Twitter are like rivers. If you're not standing by the bank when something floats by, it's gone. Good luck finding that brilliant conversation you had with somebody in a FB thread 2 or 3 weeks ago. People who "follow," "like," and "friend" you on FB may rarely or never see your posts, especially if they're answering someone else's, and those lacking that tenuous relationship are even less likely to see them.

So like and follow us on FB and Twitter, but when you post your comments on our articles here, anyone who finds the article finds the comment, now or a decade from now.

That's because Facebook respects your carefully thought out comment exactly as much as an emoticon or an LOL or STFU, LMFBAO, and needs to make room for the next one. Mark Zuckerberg doesn't respect you. We do. For lots more on how that works, listen to Jodi Dean below. And if you haven't already, register, login and comment on our articles. Comments are usually open for 30 days after an article is published.